Lia Thomas.....again. Yes, really in 2024 😠

[IcakethereforeIam]

He's taking legal action, apparently, in secret. Don't know how the Telegraph got the scoop

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/swimming/2024/01/25/transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-legal-challenge-ban/

https://archive.ph/1PSZG

In the guardian also I think

Not read

.

Do you know what? I almost wish he would get to the Olympics. It has viewing figures in billions. Lia and the TRAs wouldn't know what had hit them when it was there for all to see on a world stage.

Obviously I don't believe for a minute that this person should be there, but if they think it will be good for their cause they would most certainly have another think coming afterwards.

Thank you @midgetastic I'd have missed that.

Sean Ingle in the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/jan/25/transgender-us-swimmer-lia-thomas-taking-legal-action-to-compete-again

Ingle seems to avoid pronouns except when quoting Thomas.

Having now read about it in two articles...

I've had enough of all this crap!

She also told ESPN: “The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned. People will say, ‘Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win’. I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself.”

God, the fucking arrogance. No one gives a shiny shit why you 'transitioned'. Just stop cheating.

Christ, what kind of mindset is it that says if you only knew how much I wanted this, you'd let me walk all over you.

In that locker room, we turned around and there’s a 6ft 4in biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia.

I suppose that's not a goal, either??

Arse.

This is a quote from the Guardian article which surprised me:

Thomas, who was a moderate swimmer in the male category before transitioning,

By even acknowledging that fact could we begin to hope that the G is, if only by the tiniest smidge, beginning to soften its hardline TWAW stance?

Christ, what kind of mindset is it that says if you only knew how much I wanted this, you'd let me walk all over you.
Very succinct summary @Datun !

Sean Ingle has been pretty good on this - not sure if it's having any wider effect on the G but we can only hope! They have a TW reporter as well so that might make for a bit of an internal conflict...

Well done Sean Ingle!

However I must say that the Telegraph writer has a very poor grasp of punctuation. I mean look at this sentence. He has accidentally put the quotation marks around entirely the wrong words.

‘exposing other competitors to her “male genitalia”.’

Ah, what a blissful day it will be when we no longer have to read sentences including the (oxy)moronic words “her penis”.

Tbf to Thomas he does make a good point

“They’re like, ‘We respect Lia as a woman, as a trans woman, whatever, we respect her identity; we just don’t think it’s fair’,” Thomas said on the ‘Dear Schuyler’ podcast.
“You can’t really have that sort of half support, where you’re like, ‘Oh, I respect her as a woman here, but not here’. They’re using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs.”

To which I can only answer, 'Well, I don't respect him as a woman anywhere. Why would I?' I don't think anyone truly does, not even Thomas himself. It's not a belief that mammals can't change sex, it's a biological fact.

.

“We did not give our consent; they did not ask for our consent,” Gaines told Fox News. “In that locker room, we turned around and there’s a 6ft 4in biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia.

Come on TRAs, I'm genuinely curious how you will justify this.

Sean Ingle is not captured.

Bridges and his mother are not fond of Sean.

I think Laurie Penny would say they were being rude for looking.

No reflection of any general change of stance at the G.

Sean Ingle has always been a very grounded, matter-of-fact reporter when it comes to this issue. One of those old-school trustworthy journalists who doesn't have an angle to wrestle into every article.

I look forward to him getting his arse handed to him in crt, as that will give the other sports bodies the green light to do the same.

There is, unfortunately, a significant precedent in the US for the law supporting Transwomen in female sport.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, amd may be considered a very stupid suggestion, but why not keep the male-female competitions and then pilot test having an "Open gender" competition so that anyone who wants to compete, and trans-identifying peoples, can in the "Open" lanes?

And maybe at the elite levels, like world championships or Olympics, if transpeople want to compete with the gender they currently identify as, then make it a rule that they had to have started transitioning at least 5 years before competition. This would allow them to train for 5 years at less elite levels as the gender they identify with while getting hormones etc.

I know the entire issue is more complicated than this, but that feels like it would solve temporarily all concerns...

But there is precedent in the Court of Arbitration for Sport preventing males who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s sport: Caster Semenya.

Doesn't this lead to them saying kids should be transitioning younger before puberty?

That’s not what they want, though. They want validation, or they want to win, and they don’t care who gets under their big massive man feet on the way to that female locker room, or that podium.

Also, five years between transitioning and competing won’t change the physiological advantages having been through male puberty affords an athlete. That’s there for life, no matter how strong the lady feelz or hormone tablets.

My mistake, NotBad. I should have read one of the full articles. From the first few sentences of the Telegraph I got the impression she'd been to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was now pursuing through the US courts. Glad that's not the case.

Good question, I just figured that most elite athletes are above legal age and most elite athletes are in uni/college age or above I think, so they can start hormones and transitioning at 17 or 18.

Their body their choice but if they're serious about changing genders AND competing it shouldn't be a problem for them, plus if they are underage or decide too late in life, there's always the "Everyone welcome" section

I don’t feel comfortable suggesting anyone female enters men’s boxing, men’s rugby, men’s races, goes into men’s spaces etc. Any man can rugby tackle anyone as long as they both identify the same?
We have a hundred years of data in many areas telling us that’s a terrible idea. Who is accountable if anything goes wrong?

We’re indulging something with no end in sight. Where is this going? What’s the
next demand going to be?

Gender identity needs to be separated back out from sex.